Means for and method of attaching yarn ends in tubular fabrics



March 12, 1963 A. B. EAKER MEANS FOR AND METHOD OF ATTACHING YARN ENDSIN TUBULAR FABRICS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 15, 1958 N. K LL! INVENTOR. A/ston 5. faker BY 5 March 12, 1963 Filed May 15, 1958 A. B. EAKERMEANS FOR AND METHOD OF ATTACHING YARN ENDS IN TUBULAR FABRICS 4Sheets-Sheet 2 /9 H INVENTOR- 24 A/sfian 5. faker- .L

ATTORNEY March 12, I963 A. B EAKER 3,080,739

MEANS FOR AND METHOD OF ATTACHING YARN ENDS IN TUBULAR FABRICS Filed May15, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VEN TOR. Alston B. faker ATTORNEY March 12,1963 A.

MEANS FOR AND METHOD OF ATTACHING YARN B. EAKER ENDS IN TUBULAR FABRICS4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed May 15, 1958 UH E IN V EN TOR. A Iston B. fa/ferA 77' Ofi/Vf' V United States Patent Ofiice 3,080,739 Patented Mar. 12,1953 This invention relates to improvements in circular knittingmachines having a plurality of feeding stations for knitting multi-feedfabrics in circular motion and more particularly to means forcontrolling the operation of such machines to tie in yarn ends when aknitting station is placed in or taken out of operation.

In such machines the circle of needles moves through a knitting wave ateach knitting station. Yarn feeding means are provided opposite eachknitting station such yarn feeding means including one or more yarnfeeders movable between active and inactive positions to position a yarnto be taken by the needles or to remove it therefrom, respectively,yarns so removed from action being severed and the end extending fromthe feeder held by clamping means. In a case where one yarn issubstituted for another at a feeding station the ingoing and outgoingyarns are usually overlapped on a few of the needles to preventthe freeend of the severed yarn from pulling out of the fabric. Where however amachine is knitting multi-feed and a knitting station is taken out ofaction with knitting continuing at one or more of the other sta tionsthe free end of the yarn extends loosely from the last loop formed atthe intermediate station. When tension is applied to the fabric, asusually occurs in use, the free end will partially withdraw therebypermitting stretching or enlargement of the last or last few loopscreating an undesirable opening in the fabric. A similar defect occurswhen a previously inactivated knitting station is put into action in thecourse of the knitting operation.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of means for anda method of operating a circular knitting machine in the production ofmulti-feed fabric for overcoming the above and other difficulties.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means for and amethod of operating a knitting machine in multi-feed rotary knitting tosecure the free end of a yarn moved into or out of knitting action byinterlocking said free end with a yarn knitted at an adjacent feed.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a multi-feedknitting machine as defined above including means for controlling theneedles at a feed to be inactivated to cause the free end of the yarnremoved from knitting action to be caught into the fabric at a pointspaced at least one needle wale from the last loop formed at theinactivefeed.

A still further object of the invention is the. provision of means in amulti-feed knitting machine as defined above includingrneans forcontrolling the operation of "the needles at a feed to be activated orinactivated whereby the first or last needle, respectively, operating atthat feed takes yarn but does notknit the same, said one needle takingand knitting yarn at a subsequent feed.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent fromthe following detailed description of the illustrative and practicalembodiment of the invention shown in theaccompanying drawings, theinvention comprises the novel elements, features of construction andcombination of parts in cooperative relationship .as hereinafter moreparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic top plan view of a multi-feed' 2 knittingmachine with the mechanism of the'instant invention incorporatedtherein;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on the line 2-2 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of FIG;2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view on'a further enlarged scale I taken on theline 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a detail view on an enlarged scale taken on the line 5- -5 ofFIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a detail view on an enlarged scale taken on the line 66 ofFIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on line 77 of FIG.2;

FIG. 8 is a developed view of the jack and needle cam structure of themachine of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of one of the jack raisingcams of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the movements of needlesthrough a cycle at a knitting station when a knitting station is taken.out of action;

FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. lodiagrammatically illustrating themovements of the needles when a knitting station is put into action; and

FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic illustration of the loop formation, as viewedlooking outwardly from the interior of the needle cylinder of machine ofFIG. 1, of a piece of knitted fabric illustrating the mode of tying in ayarn end.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2there is shown a multi-feed circular knitting machine of the typedisclosed in British Patent 790,141, published February 5, 1958hereinafter referred to as the Coile disclosure. While, as will beapparent, the instant invention may be incorporated inmulti-fcedmachines of different types the machine of the Coile disclosure has beenselected for purposes of illustration and reference may be made theretofor details'of the machine construction and operation not specificallydescribed herein. The machine includes a rotatable needle cylinder 1havingthe usual slots therein for receiving a circle of independentlyoperated latch needles 2', the needles cooperating with sinkers 3 forforming courses of knitted fabric at each of a plurality of knittingstations indicated generally at 5a to 5d. While four knitting stationsare shown it will be understood that a greater or lesser number may beemployed.

Supported adjacent each of the knitting stations are yarn feeding means6 each suitably including a plurality of yarn guides 7. Each yarn guideis movable between a lowered position in which it feeds yarn to theneedles selected to knit at such knitting station, and an upperinoperative position. Also associated with the yarn feeding means 6 ateach knitting station is a yarn cutting 'and trapping or'clamping meansillustrated diagrammatically at 8 in FIG. 1 which is mounted in a fixedpositioncentrallyo-f the needle cylinder.

In the machine selected-for illustration there is provided one or'morejack cylinders 10in alignment and rotatable with needle cylinder 1, thejack cylinders carrying master jacks 11 and pattern jacks (not shown)adapted for vertical movement in slots in the jack cylinder. A masterjack is provided for each needle and between the upper ends of themaster jacks and the lower ends of needles'Z lifters 12 are provided fortransferring raising movements of the jacks to the needles 2. 'Themovement of'the needles through yarn taking and knitting waves at eachof the knitting stations, is caused by needle and jack cam assembliesillustrated more particularly in FIGS. 8 and 9,

the cam assemblies being carried by portions of the machine fixedrelatively to the needle and jack cylinders as details;

is usual. In the construction illustrated the assemblies are arranged tomove the needles through knitting waves in both directions of rotationof the needle cylinder whereby the machine is adapted for both rotaryand reciprocatory operation. However, inasmuch as the instant inventionis directed to improvements in rotary or round and round knitting, thecams which manipulate the needles and jacks in only one direction ofmovement of the needle cylinder, namely, that illustrated by the arrow,need be considered and will be specifically referred to.

Each needle cam assembly includes a center cam having cam face 16,.and astitchcarn 17 having a cam face 18. At the master jack level illustratedthere is provided a jack raising cam 19. In accordance with the instantinvention the'cam 19 is modified from that shown in the Coile disclosurein that it is formed with two face portions separated by a substantiallyhorizontal fiat 20 at the level of a lateralcamming portion 21 forpurposes hereinafter to be described. Jack raising cam 19 is of a heightto raise the needles 2-to the latch clearing level at which fabric loopsof a previous course held thereby are moved below the needle latches.Flat 20 is so located on cam 19that as butts 23 of the jacks 11 reachthe height thereof the needles are raised to a yarn taking but not latchclearing level. The' jack cam assemblies also include jack lowering orresetting cams 22 adapted to return the jacks to their original loweredpositions.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2, 4 and 8 jacks 11are of a type to rock about afulcrum 13 between a position in which their lower ends are swungoutwardly to cause their butts 23 to ride up cams 19 and a position inwhich the butts ride behind the cams and are not raised thereby. Inorder to inactivate a knitting station and maintain it inactive for thedesired period, patterncontrolled means are provided to hold the jacksin the latter positions at the proper times. Such means include (seeFIGS. 2, 7 and 8) guard earns 24 between the several knitting stationseach comprising preferably a double lobe to be operative in bothdirections of movement of the cylinder, the lobes form,- ing one end ofan arm 25 of a lever 26 pivoted for swinging movement on a pin 27. Theother arm 28 of lever 26 is connected through a link 29 to an arm 30 ofa lever 31.

Lever 31 is pivoted as atj32 and includes a second arm 33 having afollower 3'4 adaptedto ride on one or more cams 35 carried by one oftwomain pattern drums 36 whereby guard earns 24 may, be moved into and outof operative position under controlofthe pattern drum. The jacks arerockedfinthe other directionwhen permitted to do so by withdrawal of theguard cam to move the butts 23 into position to ride upon on the cams 19through the medium of presser cams portions of whichare shown at 38 (seeFIG. 2) thepresser cams being supported for-swinging movement into andout of contact with the upper ends of. the jacks at points between theknitting stations and under pattern control. Thepresser camsand theiroperating structure are not shownindetailherein but reference may bemade to the said Coile disclosure for such It may be said however that,such cams and their operating mechanism substantially duplicate .theguard cams and their operating mechanisms, the timingof the operation ofthe presser cams being determinedby the proper positioning of cams on apattern drum 36. As illustrated in FIG. 7 the control of both the guardandpresser cams is preferably distributed between the two main patterndrums 36.

In addition to the jack selecting devices described above the Coiledisclosure provides means: at each of the jack levels to select thejacks of individual needles to knit at a knitting station. Howeverin therotary operation of the machine with which the instant invention isconcerned such jack selection isnot required and any'detaileddescription thereof will be omitted.

In the operation of the machine described above for multi-feed circularknitting, the guard and presser .cams

located in advance of each active knitting station are shifted, underthe control of one or the other of the pattern drums 36, intoinoperative and operative positions, respectively, whereby the jacks aremoved to engage and ride up their respective earns 19. at such knittingstation and raise their associated needles tolatchclearing height toposition the previously formed loops below the latches, the jacks thenbeing returned to their loweredpositions by the resetting earns 22. Theneedles then proceed through the remainder of their knitting waveundcrthe control of center cam 15 and stitch cam 17 the needles takingyarn from an activated yarn guide at each such station and forming itinto a course of stitches.

From time to time in the formation of the fabric it may be desirable toreduce the number of knitting stations in operation or, if less than allof the knitting stationsare in operation, to increase the number.Considering, for example, the case where a knitting station is toberemoved from operation, at the proper time and under the control ofthe pattern drum, the presser cam 38 associated with such station iswithdrawn from operative position and the guard cam is moved intooperative position wherebythe lower ends of the jacks are moved inwardlyto pass behind raising cam 19 and the needles no longer are raised totake and knit yarn at the station. At the same time the yarn guide whichhas been in an active yarn feeding position is raised and, as thecylinder continuesto rotate, the yarn extending between the last formedstitch and yarn guide is carried into the clamp of the clamp and cutterdevice 8 and the cutter is operated to sever the yarn between the clampand the fabric, the loose end of. the yarn then being connected to thefabric at the interior thereof. If an inoperative knitting station is tobe placed into operation a similar series of events takes place but inreverse order, namely, the guard cam is withdrawn and the presser cammoved into operative position .to cause the jacks 11 toride up theraising cam and at the same time a yarn feed finger, which has been ininoperative position with the end of the yarn fed thereby held by theclamp, is lowered into operation. Thereafter the needles take and knitthe yarn into a course of loops and as the cylinder con tinues torotate, the yarn end is pulled out of the clamp and is carried with thefabric.

' The instant invention now to be described provides a means and methodof tying or locking in the loose yarn extending from the last knittedloop of a course in the case of aknitting station going out of operationor from thefirst knitted loop of a course in the case of a knittingstation being placed into operation. For this purpose means are provided(see FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6) for causing a terminal group of the needles,preferably between two andfour needles, to rise at such station to takeyarn without knitting the same, said group of needles however tak-,

ing and knitting yarn at the next operative knitting station.

Referring now particularly to FIGS. 3 to 6 and 8 to 10, a mechanism isillustrated adjacent each feeding station for controlling the extent ofupward movement of a terminal group of jacks, indicated generally at 39in FIGS. 8 and 9, and the needles associated therewith. While themechanims differ to some extent at the different stations in order toaccommodate certain physical features of the machine they are the samein all essentials. For the present purposes, it willbe assumed thatknitting station 5d is to be inactivated and the mechanism associatedwith this station will be specifically described. Mounted on a. fixedpart of the machine adjacent the knitting station is a bracket 40 havingan inwardly extending arm 41. A lever 42 is mounted for pivotal movementon the arm ,41 by stud 43, an arm 44 of the lever carrying a lobe 45adapted to contact butts 46, positioned below the fulcrums of the masterjacks 11, when the lever is swung in a counterclockwise direction asviewed in FIG. 3. A second arm 47 of lever 42 has an abutment surface 48adapted to contact an adjustable stop 49 suitably comprising a stud 50threaded through new 51 carried by bracket arm 41.

. Lever 42 is urged to rotate about stud 43 in a direction to bring theabutment surface against the stop by a tension spring 65 having its endsfastened to the arm 47 and bracket 40. Am 44 of lev'er42 is connected bya link 52 to one arm 53 of a bell crank 54 the other arm 55 of which isconnected by a link 57 to an arm 58 of a bell crank 59 pivoted at 60 ona post 61. A second arm 62 of bell crank 59 is provided with a followeror node 63 adapted to ride on and olf a cam 64 on a main cam drum 36.Normally the node 63 is in engagement with a cam 64 to maintain thelever 42 in inactive position and the lever 42 is moved to activeposition when the node drops off of the cam.

Raising cam 19 is as previously described preferably provided with fiatadjacent camming surface 21, the flat being located at a point in therise of the jack at which the needle is at a height where it will takeyarn but not be at latch clearing height.

In the operation of the mechanism of the instant invention when aknitting station, station 5:! being used for purposes of illustration,is tobe removed from action the pattern drum 36 is racked to causetheassociated presser cam 38 and guard cam 24 to move out of and intooperative positions, respectively, so that jacks passing the guard camthereafter will miss lifting cam 19. This operation may be timed byproper positioning of cams 35 on drum 36 todefine a particular point inthe circle of needles at which knitting stops. Duringthe same movementof the pattern drum a cam 64 is moved from beneath bellcrank 59 and thespring 65 acts to swing lever 42 and bring node or lobe 45 into contactwith butts 46 of the jacks of the terminal group 39 as they reach flat20 of the jack raising cam 19 whereby these jacks are forced ofi? theraising cam, this movement of the jacks being aided by the cammingsurface 21 and this action terminating the upward movement of terminalneedles indicated at 81 in FIG. 10. The yarn guide also under patterncontrol, is raised to its inoperative position after it has fed yarn tothe'last needle of the terminal group, the yarn trailing from the guideas the cylinder continues to turn being carried around the terminalneedle to the interior of the cylinder where it is clamped and cut.Inasmuch as the group of terminal needles are raised only to yarn takingheight by their jacks the yarn taken by these needles is not knit butlies along the terminal needles and passes around the last one thereofto the interior of the cylinder. As the terminal needles reach the nextactive feeding and knitting station they are carried through theknitting cycle and the yarn end which passed around the last one thereofis caught or locked into the fabric by the loops fanned at the activefeeding station.

The fabric obtained by the above described operation is illustrated inFIG. 12. In said figure the rear or inside face of the fabric is viewed.As there shown yarn 70 which has been knit-ted at knitting station 5dnow being taken out of action, forms its last knitted loop 72 on aneedle 80 (FIGS. 8 and 10) which is the last needle to be raised tolatch clearing level at said station, the trailing end 71 thereof lyingbehind the loops 73, 74, 75 and 76 of yarn knitted on the needlesassociated with the terminal group of jacks 39 at the next activeknitting station then passing through a following sinker loop 77 to theinterior of the fabric whereby the trailing end is caught into thefabric. It is immaterial whether one or more than one knitting stationis taken out of operation as long as one station remains in operation.In the particular setup shown in FIG. 3 the mechanism is con-trolled sothat the group of terminal needles at three stations will be removedfrom operation, the knitting of such groups of needles all taking placeat the remain-ing station.

As will be apparent, the mechanism of the invention operates on the sameprinciple when an inoperative station is placed in operation. In thiscase the mechanism is timed so that the first two to four of the forwardterminal group of needles indicated diagrammatically at 82 (FIG. 11) areraised only to yarntakingheight.

Having thus described my invention in rather full de-- tail it will beunderstood that these details need not be strictly adhered to but thatvarious changes and modi fications may be made all within the scopeofflthe invention as defined by the following claims.v

1. In a circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder and acircle of independent needles carried thereby, jacks associated withsaid needles, a plurality of knit ting station including yarn feedingmeans, means adjacent each knitting station for lifting said jacksandthe needles associated therewith, means adjacent each knittingstation for selecting jacks to be lifted by said lifting means, meansfor causing a trailing terminal group of jacks selectedat a knittingstation to be disconnected from said lifting means'when the associatedneedles have risen to a height to take a yarn but not to knit, means toprovide'a' loose end of said yarn extending around an end one'of saidassociated needles to the interior of said needle circle, and means tocause said group of jacks to raise their associated needles to knittingheight at a subsequent knitting station.

2. In a circular knitting machinecomprising a needle cylinder andindependent needles carried thereby, butted jacks associated with saidneedles, a plurality offiknitting stations including yarn feeding means,jack raising cams at each of said knitting stations having inclined camfaces for operation on the butts of said jacks, means adjacent aknitting station for selecting jacks to be raised by the raising cam atsuch station, and means for causing the butts of a trailing terminalgroup of jacks selected at such knitting station to be removed from theraising cam face at a point intermediate the ends thereof.

3. In a multi-feed circular knitting machine comprising a needlecylinder and independent needles carried thereby, butted jacksassociated with said needles, a plurality of knitting stations includingyarn feeding means, jack raising cams at each of said knitting stationshaving incline-d cam faces for operation on the butts of said jacks, thecam face of said raising cam at a knitting station having a fiatintermediate its ends, means adjacent such knitting station forselecting jacks to be raised by the raising cam and means for causingthe butts of a trailing terminal group of the jacks selected for suchknitting station to be removed from the cam face when they reach saidflat.

4. A knitting machine as defined by claim 2 having pattern controlledmeans independent of said jack selecting means for operating said meansfor causing the butts of a terminal group of jacks to be removed fromthe cam face.

5. In a multi-feed circular knitting machine comprising a needlecylinder and independent needles carried thereby, butted rocking jacksassociated with said needles, a plurality of kniting stations includingyarn feeding means, jack raising cams at each of said knitting stationshaving inclined cam faces for operation on the butts of said jacks whensaid jacks are rocked outwardly, means adjacent a knitting station forselecting jacks to be raised by the raising cam at said station, saidselecting means including means for outwardly rocking the butts of theselected jacks, and pattern controlled means independent of said jackselecting means for inwardly rocking the butts of a terminal group ofsuch selected jacks off of the 7 jack raising cam face at a pointintermediate its ends.

6. Aknitting machine as defined in claim 5 having said means forinwardly rocking the butts of a terminal group of selected jacks at eachof a plurality of said knitting stations.

7. A knitting machine as defined in claim 5 in which the last namedmeans comprises an arm mounted for swinging movement between a positionin which it rocks saidjacks to remove the butts thereof, from saidraising cam and a position removed therefrom, and means for movingsaid'arm between said two positions.

8. In a mnlti-feed circular knitting machine comprising a needlecylinder and independent needles carried thereby, butted rocking jacksassociated with said needles, a plurality of knitting stations includingyarn feeding means, jack raising cams at each of said knitting stationshaving inclined cam faces for operation on butts of the jacks when thejacks are rockedoutwardly, means adjacent each of said knitting stationsfor selecting jacksto be raised by the raising cam at suchknitting-station, said selecting means including means for outwardlyrocking the butts ofsaid selected jacks, means independent of said jackselecting means for inwardly rocking the butts of a terminalgroup of thejacks selected for a knitting station when they have travelled, part wayof said inclined cam face, said'last named means comprising an armmounted for swinging rnovement, a contact element carried by saidarm,rand pattern controlled means for moving said arm 'between aposition in which said contact element presses against said jacks and aposition in which it is removed therefrom.

9'. In the operation of'a circular knitting machine comprising a circleof .needles, butted jacks associated with the needles and aplurality ofknitting stations including yarn feeding means shiftable into and out ofyarn feeding positions, and jack raising cams at each of said knittingstations for operation on the butts of said. jacks and means forselecting the jacks to be raised by said earns; the method of removing aknitting station from operation comprising withdrawing the jackselecting means at .such knitting station, removingthe butts of aterminalgroup of selected jacks from the jack raising carn'when' theirassociated needles have reached a yarn taking but not latch clearinglevel at such station, causing said associated needles to take a yarnwithout knitting at said station, severing said yarn to form a loose endextending around the end one of said associated needles tothe'interiorof said needle circle, and feeding yarn to and knitting itby the needles-associated with said terminal group of jacks at asubsequent knitting station.

References Cited il'lthfl file of this patent UNITED STATESPATENTS999,854 Paquette Aug. 8, 1911 1,969,853 Page Aug. 14, 1934 2,525,704Miller- Oct. 10, 1950 2,550,880 St. Pierre May 1, 1951 2,971,358McDonough Feb. 14,, 1961 2,974,506 Lawson -.rMar. 14,,196l

FOREIGN PATENTS 107,712 Australia June-14, 1939 575,702 Great BritainMar. 1, 1946 790,141 Great Britain Feb. 5, 1958

2. IN A CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE COMPRISING A NEEDLE CYLINDER ANDINDEPENDENT NEEDLES CARRIED THEREBY, BUTTED JACKS ASSOCIATED WITH SAIDNEEDLES, A PLURALITY OF KNITTING STATIONS INCLUDING YARN FEEDING MEANS,JACK RAISING CAMS AT EACH OF SAID KNITTING STATIONS HAVING INCLINED CAMFACES FOR OPERATION ON THE BUTTS OF SAID JACKS, MEANS ADJACENT AKNITTING STATION FOR SELECTING JACKS TO BE RAISED BY THE RAISING CAM ATSUCH STATION, AND MEANS FOR CAUSING THE BUTTS OF A TRAILING TERMINALGROUP OF JACKS SELECTED AT SUCH KNITTING STATION TO BE REMOVED FROM THERAISING CAM FACE AT A POINT INTERMEDIATE THE ENDS THEREOF.